Pro tip - Tokyo Marui gas blowback pistols DO NOT need metal slides to run propane. Trust me I own one.Follow up - I don't suggest metal propane adapters. The one I had broke my mags in < 3 weeks. Plastic adapters have many more pros than metal ones. Don't believe me? HolyHandGrenade has the most experience on the forum (that I've heard of) with any adapters.

I personally own an ECHO1 G36c. I love it. I ordered it from Evike.com about a year and a half ago, but the strange part is that it didn't come in an ECHO1 box... It said Golden Eagle on it. I'm certainly not complaining, as I inspected the gun, I realized that the gearbox is reinforced steel or aluminum or something. The gearbox external is black (very nice looking) and the inside is very nice clean grey, not pot metal at all, no burrs or lines. I took it apart and it is definetly not an Echo1 based on internals. The gears are incredible and the spring guide (unlike other said on here) is not plastic, it's a V3 ball bearing steel spring guide. By what I can tell the spring is an M130 and the piston is a polycarb with the last two teeth metal.

Speaking of the hop-up, it isn't that bad. I mean, it could be better, and at some point I will buy a full metal hop up but for being an "ECHO1" it's very nice. It's durable plastic (not the cheapo kind) and the bucking is blue (it doesn't matter the color really, but it looks cool ). It gives consistent results and does not change over time. It isn't too stiff so it allows for minute adjustments. I admit, the barrel is terrible. It's a 6.08 (I measured) and even with the help of .23s, it's still pretty inaccurate after 125 feet or so. I actually ordered a JBU 6.04 247mm from Airsoftmegastore.com for $15. It made a world of difference.

The gun body is very nice, made out of some high impact ABS or something. It is definetly not cheap Wal-Mart plastic, it is VERY dense (the gun is very heavy, about 6.5 unloaded and no accessories) and feels like it could take a beating. It has been dropped multiple times (all by accident…), mostly stock first, though it did fall off of a truck tailgate onto dusty dirt and gravel, just wiped it off and let it be. The scratches on the metal from smacking into walls and dropping it make it look used and give it character, but I’m not that afraid it will break.

The wiring was a little finicky. The first time I disassembled it, I took off the magwell and foregrip, and discovered that the connections between the front assembly and the gearbox are individual connectors, not a tamiya (I don’t know if that’s the right name…) connector, this means that the wires are sort of jammed in there. The first time I disassembled it, I actually stripped the wires. I was able to replace it but the fact that now I have to practice putting the wires around the hop up perfectly and holding the wires down with a jewelers screwdriver every time I put the front assembly back in is kind of annoying. I wish they were regular connectors to save all that trouble.

The sights are decent. I’ve never been one for G36 sights (I think the front post is way too thick to shoot anything precisely). I’m thinking of buying a flat-top rail kit and putting some Magpul MBUS1 sights on there to accompany my Walther 1x30 reflex. The gun did not come with side rails, only one short one on the bottom, so I am also ordering a pair of long type rails to put on the side, and a Magpul AFG2.

I love this gun, it is durable, fun to shoot, has a great ROF with a 9.6 (14ish RPS), and is very sexy. I recommend Echo1.

WARNING: WALL OF TEXT!I own an echo 1 red star AKM and both the internals and externals are phenomenal for an e1. It's oemed by cyma, which is probably the best China based AK manufacturer(at least their high end models). Extremely solid, nice looking steel body, decent real wood grip and stock, very nice polymer pistol grip, ok motor, solid gb shell, ok wiring. The hopup works very well, the barrel is decent at best. Overall, the gun develops wobble in a few places, but shilling it with tape works pretty well. The rof is good considering it shoots roughly 430 fps stock, and range is average for a stock gun. Needs little upgrading out of the box to be effective, probably just new barrel, lower spring, and honestly it'll handle a lipo decently. The selling point is definitely the beautiful externals. Also, it has a VFC style body, which is more user friendly and realistic than TM imo.

Have you tried taking the barrel out yet? Just because of that, id rather have a tm body. But thats also causei have gas tube rail, so add 4 bolts totaking your barrel down.

And im changng where i stand on echo 1. Especially as a new player, echo 1 saves you a little money. They give you a good buckin (of course now jg puts cheap blue buckings in to trick you, and they dry out way to quick and never work right) and throw in ball bearings and better shimming. Add $6 for the bucking, $17 for the bearings (at least) and about $30 in labor to a jg g36c, and you get around $178. The echo 1's $165, so you have enough money for another mag and come out about even, plus that e1 warranty.

HOWEVER, i personnaly would never buy one, simply because i dont own a gun more than a week before cracking it open and changin just about everything.

Mr. OM-NOM wrote:Have you tried taking the barrel out yet? Just because of that, id rather have a tm body. But thats also causei have gas tube rail, so add 4 bolts totaking your barrel down.

And im changng where i stand on echo 1. Especially as a new player, echo 1 saves you a little money. They give you a good buckin (of course now jg puts cheap blue buckings in to trick you, and they dry out way to quick and never work right) and throw in ball bearings and better shimming. Add $6 for the bucking, $17 for the bearings (at least) and about $30 in labor to a jg g36c, and you get around $178. The echo 1's $165, so you have enough money for another mag and come out about even, plus that e1 warranty.

HOWEVER, i personnaly would never buy one, simply because i dont own a gun more than a week before cracking it open and changin just about everything.

The only thing I'm having trouble with on the CM048M is removing the front sight, but I don't even need to do that so it's no big deal. Plus the charging handle goes back farther than a TM clone EDIT: wow that was a necro..... SOWWY!!!